Straw holder and dispenser.



Wit" gown H. 0. MAYES.

'STRAW HOLDER AND DISPENSER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7, 1908.

. Patented Oct. 13,1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I Elmnutoz fiiflMayea H. O. MAYES.

STRAW HOLDER AND-DISPENSER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7, 19os.

I r Patented 001;. 13, 1908.

- ZSHBBTS-SHEET 2. y I 1 1 0 v 3 if M L MLM r 5 Z Y Z0 /.?0 I 24 Z0 Z023 HARRY. c. MA ES; or PHILADELYHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. 1

srnaw noLnEnfAun DISPENSER.

" *1 .s qifi ation of'LettexsPatentQf Patented Oct. 13, "1908.

' Applicationnledlebruary 7; 1908. I Serial No. 414,856.

T0 all; ilihom -it may, concern."

v 1 3s "it known that I, HARRY: G. ci-tlzen of the United I States,residing at 'Philadelphia, in the county. of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements "invStraw Holders and Thisv invent on 1 comprehend's' certainv new- .andusefuh improvements "in apparatus for" h g n pensing straws for, use-inconnection with soda fountains and in-o'the'r places where sucharticlesare used, andfthe invention has for its-primarvobject ajsi npleand .efi'icient apparatus 0 this character", 'WhlCll Wlll possess, to amarked degree sani-v tary characteristics-in that the straws'cannot' behandled by the customers before'being ejected from'the containerfor'useand'cannot be returned tothe holder or container afterbeing used, and inthat the straws within the containerv are etfectively protected fromdust or other unhygienic'conditions- A further object of the inventionis device of this type which will .occupy'comparatively little spaceoneither a counter'or small table, andwhichmay be operated fromeither'side so'as-to-drop one straw at a time upon a rack supportedunderneath thestraw receptacle or container, said rackbeing ac'ces sibleto the customer on either side of-fthe: apparatus, or, Q if desired f'parti'cularly for; counter use solely, the rack may be desitgn ed to carrythe straw out to that side-o gthe apparatus where the operator-or'attei'idant operation, the straws beingjheld in proper. alinenient atall times While in the container so as to .be positively ejected at eachand every operation, without any dangerof being stands. And a furtherobject of the invention is a straw holder and dispenser,the parts ofwhich are so constructed and arranged that a single straw will beejectedat each crushed or broken.

with theseand other objects inview as will more fully appear as thedescription device 7 ,in the present embodiment of the invention issecured at its ends by rivets 8 to the lips 14 of the plates 13. Thesaid cutoff device embodies two longitudinally exproceeds, the inventionconsists in certainconstructions, arrangements and ,co'mbinations,

of the ,parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and then pointioutthe novel features thereof in the appended claims. 7

For a full understanding of the invention.

"reference is tof'be-had to the following de-f scr ption and accoinpanyng drawings, in I ywhichz- .D p n e ,bf whiehjthe following s'aspecification. 1 I

simple,- durable and eficient construction of;

top' plan viewithereof; with the cover removed andwith a portion brokenaway, to

-'illustrate subjacent parts; Fig. 3 isa-longL tudinal sectional view ofthe-apparatus; Fig.

A is a transverse sectional: view thereof; Figs.

5, 6 and '7. are detail sectional viewsin'the nature of diagrams,illustrating the opera- 1' tions of the ejecting device; and, Fig. 8 isa detail.- lfragmentary perspective view of ejecting device.

4 Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form ljorjembodiment of'myinvention; Fig. 2 1s a "Corresponding and like parts are referred to inthe'following description and indicated inall the views ofthe drawingsby the same-- reference characters.

My improved straw holder and dispenser embodies ahorizontally-disposedreceptacle or container, thebody portion 1 of which is preferablytrough-shaped. as. shown and secured to, the ends 2 that are providedwith legs B-by which the container may be held'in" a somewhat elevatedposition on a table,

countenor the like. Preferably, although not necessarily so, the bodyportion 1, s

formed of sheet metal secured by screws or, similar fastening devices,to inwardly facingm'arginal flanges 2 of the'ends 2. Said ,ends' areformed at their upper corners withrecesses 2 in whicha plate glass ormetal 11d or covertfits, so asto render the container practically dustroof: v The body portion'l of the straw container is formed at itsbottom with alongitudinally extending opening 5, and below and spacedfrom such opening is a cut-off strip 6 which also extends longitudinallyin alinement with theopening 5, said strip being secured at'its endsinany desired way, to the ends 2 of the container, as best' seen in Fig.3. The open space between the cut-cit strips 6 and the opening 5provides two oppositely facing and Jlongitudinally extending ejecting ordischarge, openings, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4, and an ejectingdevice 7 is mounted to slide or oscillate in said space between thecut-oli' strip 6 and opening 5. The ejecting tending bars that arespaced from each other as shown, to form a longitudinal'pocket betweenthem, the'top'of the pocket being designed to register with the opening5 and being designed to receive a straw from the .container, and thebottom of the pocket belongitudinally extending troiigh 10 defined alongone side by a rib or ridge 11 and at its opposite or outer side by acorresponding rib 12, the said ribs being arranged to acdependingcurately fit against the outer surface of the body portion 1 of thecontainer, so that no matter what position the ejecting device may bein, the two outermost ribs 12 will with said outer surface of the bodyportion and effectively exclude dust from the interior thereof.

In order to assist in holding the ejecting device in proper longitudinalalinement with the discharge opening of the container, I provide theplates 13 that are mounted Within the ends of the container as best seenin Figs. 3 and 4 and thatjare formed with lips 14: entering the pocket 9at the ends thereof (see. Fig. 8). These plates 13 are mounted upon alongitudinally extending shaft 15, the ends of. which are journaled. inthe ends 2 I11 order to swing the ejecting device, I pro- Vide in thepresent instance two pairs of diverging curved arms 16-'that are securedat their lower ends to the side bars of the cut-0H as'best seen in Fig.4, and' that carry at their upper ends, on both sides of the container,horizontal actuating rods 17, so that if desired, the device can beactuated from either side. In order to automatically bring back theparts to normal position, after each operation, I may provide springs 18secured in either one or both ends 2 of the container, as shown in Fig.4 and designed to bear upon a square block or blocks 19 secured toeither one or both ends of the shaft 15, the tension of said spring orsprings manifestly rocking the shaft 15 back to normal position andmaintaining the parts in a relatively stationary condition until it isdesired to positively operate the device. of. this character, it isimportant to prevent thestraws or other articles that may be dispensedfrom crowding together at the discharge opening, and for this purpose, Imount upon the shaft 15 a series of dependung and transverselyoscillating sector plates 20, the lower curved edges of which correspondapproximately to the cross sectional erably sipaced from the interiorwall of such be y portion a distance'substantially contour of. the bodyportion 1 and are prefequal to the diameter of the individual straws. Bythis means, it is manifest that in its upper face with a relativelyshallow engage ofthe container.

In an apparatus the straws will be held in a single row as they feeddownwardly towards the discharge opening, the oscillation of the seriesof plates 20 raising a quantity of the straws at each operation, and thefeed being thereby effectively controlled.

As the straws are ejected from the container, they may be caught by arack underneath the same. This rack may be of any desired constructionor formation, according to judgment or taste, or the particularconditions existing where the device is to be used. For instance, asillustrated in Fig. 1, the rack may comprise two inwardly extending andoutwardly bowed frames 21, secured to the legs This particularconstruction is specially adapted for use on small tables where tendantalone is supposed to serve the straws,

the rack frame may be formed, as illustrated in Fig. 4, designated 21,it being clear that by this specific construction of rack, the strawswill be -d1scharged at one side only of the apparatus, where theattendant is standing.

In the practical operation of my improved straw holder and dispenser,the straws,-as above described will be maintained in a single row,underneath the feed controlling plates 20. Referring particularly toFigs. 5, 6 and 7, it will be seen that as the actuating rod 17 isdepressed, one of the troughs 10 will be passed forwardly across theopening 5 and will engage a straw. The ridge 11 at the inner edge of theadvancing trough will cause a straw to drop straight and roll straightinto the trough 10, and as the rod is released and the ejecting deviceautomatically swings back to its normal position, the

,side edgeof the wall of the opening 5 in the body portion 1 of thecontainer will engage the straws and roll one of them up over the ridge11 of the ejecting device and thereby cause a straw to drop squarelyinto the pocket, from which it will be discharged by the subsequentdepression of the actuating rod.

F real the foregoing description in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be seen that I have provided a very ple and ellicientconstruction of straw holding and dispensing apparatus which will bepractically dust proof and otherwise sanitary in use and which willpositively eject the straws without danger of mutilating the same, themain controlling devices preventing all crowding of the straws at thedischarge opening and maintaining a uniform l device may be formed outof sheet metal, all

in one piece, with the corresponding side bar of the ejecting device,the other side bar and arins on the opposite side of the devicebeing 1correspondingly formed.

",Having thus described the invent ioIn w hat isclaimed-as new is:

1. Anapparatus of the character described,

comprising acontainer formed in its bottom with an opening, a cut-offstripsecured below and spaced from said opening and pro- Wldlngtherewith two oppositely faclng dis-' charge openings, an e ectingdevice adapted to slide laterally in the space between "said cut-offstrip and the opening in the bottom of the container, a support-for saidcut-ofi' device, and actuating rodsisecured on op posite sides of thecontainer and 'havingconnection With-said ejecting'device. V p

j In an apparatus of thecharacter descrlbed, the combinatlonof a'contalner pro-v vided with'a discharge opening, an ejecting devicearranged to move across said opening,

a supportfor said ejecting device, the .ejccting device being formedwith a pocket adaptedtoregi'ster with said opening and with a trough atone side of said pocket,and;

means for movingsaid -ejecting device, p 3. In an apparatus of thecharac'terdescribed thccombin'atlon of a container pro- 40 vided 'witha'discharge opening, an ejecting device arranged to move acrosssaidopening,

fining the sides of-the trough, and means for moving said 'e ectlngdevice,

4.1a an apparatus of the character described, the combination of acontainer pro e vided with a discharge opening, an ejecting troughs.

said container, plates secured to said shaft a support for saidejectingdevice, the ejeeting device being formed .with a pocket adaptedto register with'said opening and 4 5 alongside said pocket with atrough,ribs de-,

v device adapted to move back and forth across.

Said opening, a support. for said ejecting device, the ejecting de'vlcebeing formed with a pocket adapted to register with the said opening-andon bot-h sides of said pocket w th long tudinallyextending troughs andminer and out-er ribs defining the sides'of said In zinapparatnsof thecharacter described, the comblnatlonof a contalner -pro- 'vided with adischarge opening, an ejecting deviceadapted to move back and forthacross said opening, a support for said ejecting device, the ejectingdevice being formed with a pocket. adapted to register with the saidopening and on both-sides of said pocket.

with longitudinally extending'troughs and\ inner and outer ribs definingthe sides of said troughs, the outermost ribs bearing againsttheext'erior wall, of the container. j 6; An, apparatus ofthe characterdescribed, coinprising a container provided with a discharge opening, anejecting device adaptedfl tdmov across-said opening and BjCt' fi1--ticlestherethrough, a shaft supported within the container, plates 13secured to the shaft near the ends thereof, and formed with dependinglipsengagingsaid ejecting device, means for moving the ejecting deviceand plates,.and means for automatically returning the parts to normalposition.

7 An apparatus of the character described, comprising a containerprovided with a discharge opening, and an ejecting device arranged t-omove across said opening and eject articles therethrough, a shaftmounted in 7 and having connection with the ends of the ejecting device,a block secured onsaid shaft, asprlng secured 1n said container andbear- .90

ing upon said block with a tension to turn the shaft to normal position,and means for moving said ejectingdevice.

In testimony whereof I aflix my slgnature in presence of two witnesses.

H RR'Y' (3.. MAYES. [14s.] Wit'nessesi ARTHUR B.KRIsE,

I FRANK R.- Sham).

